How does the Shergar Cup work? Everything you need to know ahead of Ascot's unique fixture
![The Shergar Cup day at Ascot is a unique meeting and takes place on Saturday](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com%2Fprod-media-racingpost%2Fprod%2Fimages%2F169_1008%2Fc0fdcb5fedb0-perotto.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Each of the four teams for the Shergar Cup – Great Britain & Ireland, Rest of the World, Ladies and Europe – consists of three jockeys who will take part in five of the six races on the card.
Subject to full fields, each jockey will have five rides across the afternoon, although a spare rider can be used in the event of injury. Every race will include two reserves who have 45 minutes before the off time to be substituted in.
The winner of each race will earn 15 points for their respective team, while second place receives ten points and third, fourth and fifth will collect seven, five and three points. If a non-runner is not replaced, the jockey and their team will receive four points for missing out on the ride, while teams will share points equally if any horses are involved in a dead-heat.
Whichever team collects the most points after the six races will be presented with the Shergar Cup, while the highest-scoring jockey will be presented with £3,000 and the Silver Saddle, run in memory of Alistair Haggis, the PR executive who played an integral role in the development of the Shergar Cup before his death in 2014.
If scores remain level in either the team or Silver Saddle competitions, there will be a countback on the number of successes and the team or jockey with the most winners will be judged the winner overall.
If they are still level, then second places will be counted and, if necessary, third and fourth places. If they are still level, there will be joint-winners.
The Shergar Cup is celebrating its 23rd year and a bonus prize of £25,000 will be awarded to the trainers and stable staff from each of the first three leading yards.
The teams
Great Britain & Ireland
Tadhg O'Shea (C)
Seamie Heffernan
Billy Loughnane
Europe
Bauyrzhan Murzabayev (C)
Jose-Luis Borrego
Alberto Sanna
Ladies
Hayley Turner (C)
Marie Velon
Joanna Mason
Rest of the world
Rachel King (C)
Rachel Venniker
Nanako Fujita
Read these next:
Meet the teams: we profile the 12 riders taking part in Saturday's Shergar Cup
Everything you need to know about the 2024 Shergar Cup - plus a best bet
Racing Post Members' Club: 50% off your first three months
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